Suarez admits to diving against Stoke

Suarez admits to diving against Stoke

Published Jan. 17, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

Luis Suarez has admitted his critics were right to accuse him of diving to win a penalty against Stoke this season.

In an extensive interview with Fox Sports Argentina the Liverpool forward repeated claims that he is treated differently by the media because of his South American background and again accused the press of being at Manchester United's beck and call.

But Suarez held up his hands over a dive at Anfield in October which led Stoke manager Tony Pulis to call for the striker to be suspended.

He said: "I don't listen to all the nonsense some people say about me. I'm accused of cheating here. People say I throw myself all the time inside the box.

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"They said that when we played against Stoke, for instance, and in that case they were right. I invented a foul because we were drawing and I wanted to win.

"Sometimes on the pitch I say to myself, "What have I done?" But the name of Suarez sells papers."

The Uruguayan was recently accused of deliberately handling the ball moments before his winning goal at non-league Mansfield in the FA Cup.

But he said: "I touched the ball with my hand accidentally, and I was criticised because I kissed my hand. I say to the media: you should talk more about football, not about other stuff."

Suarez is yet to be forgiven by some supporters for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra - an offence which earned him an eight-match ban last season.

He said: "When someone comes and says to me something bad about being a South American, I don't cry, because that happens inside the pitch.

"I have my conscience clean. But as I have said: Manchester United controls the media, they are powerful and the media will always help them.

"It's complicated to play here in England. As Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero have said, it's complicated for a South American footballer to be here as we are treated differently to the local footballers."

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